Ninja Hunting
by willwrite4fics
Summary: BeachHead has to train his Greenshirts to fight ninjas.. using the GI Joe ninjas as targets. The return of Private Williams, Snake Eyes as a consultant, and much paintball mayhem.
1. Chapter 1

Ninja Hunts

How do you train to fight against ninjas? You use your own homegrown ninjas of course. Greenshirts vs Ninjas. And.. the return of Private Williams!

* * * *

BeachHead sighed and stepped out of the truck. Walking around to the back of the transport, he banged the side hard. "ALRIGHT!! Drop the gate and get out! We're here, time to get yer sorry butts to work!" Twenty greenshirts bounded out of the vehicle. "Get those cases out and take them over to the door of that warehouse." He looked around the industrial park. It was mainly deserted, with a few large warehouses the Joe's used for training. There was no sign of the other troops they would be meeting.

"Get lined up! Miller!! Get over here.. it don't take five people to haul a couple boxes fifty feet!" He watched them rush to line up, standing in formation, five across, four deep. Just like he taught them. These were some of his best, and thus, suited for the extra training today. "Williams! Straighten up!" Everyone stiffened into an attentive stance.

"Alright then.. listen up. I ain't explaining all this more than once, and if you don't listen, you'll get some painful lessons. Today we're gonna learn about hunting ninjas. Cobra has done and got themselves more than just StormShadow, whether he's still around himself or not. So we'll be seeing more ninja type action, and the tops have said I need to train you lot as a special assistance force, in case we need you on the front lines. So.. here we are."

He swung an arm around to point at the building behind him, and they all dutifully looked at it. "This is your warehouse, and you haven't heard the regular check-in from the guard. You suspect intruder or intruders have incapacitated him, and that these so-called intruders may be ninjas. For this exercise, your weapons have been replaced with non-lethal training weapons, paintball guns, paint grenades and the like. Friendly fire counts, cause this is a real life schenario, so when you get hit.. then you GO DOWN! If I catch someone talking after they're dead, or pointing the way the ninja went that just beheaded them.. I'll make you wish you'd never been born. Got it?!?"

"Yes Sergeant Major!" The group as a whole looked fairly confused and he sighed.

"Any questions yet?" A few hands shot up and he shook his head. "Miller."

"Sergeant major!! Who are we fighting inside?"

He took a deep breath. "You will be facing possible ninjas. Snake Eyes has generously allowed his apprentices to come help out. They will be using non-lethal weapons, and dye. They should be here shortly." He heard a snapping noise and turned to see Snake Eyes standing behind him. "Sneaky bastard. Where have you been?" He got a shrug as his reply. "You set up?" The ninja master nodded placidly. "Alright then. Snake Eyes will NOT be particpating, and for the purposes of the training exercise will not be here. So if you see him inside, ignore him. Anyone who 'accidentally' shoots him with a paintball gets to have HIM deal out whatever suitable punishment he feels like. So we won't have ANY issues, will we?"

"No Sergeant Major!" He glared at them anyway.

Pacing across in front of them, he pointed at them. "Miller, Teryis, Folkson, and Mouth. You're team leaders, take your team aside, make your plans. You get ten minutes to plan, and you can group up, or spread out however YOU think will be effective. The objective is to do a thorough check of the premises, under the assumption that there are hostile forces inside, that may or may not have left traps behind and will attempt to wound or kill you. The hostiles have had about.." He looked at Snake Eyes who held up three fingers. ".. thirty minutes head start. You will attempt to kill or wound or drive out the hostiles. I'm not leading any teams the first times out, but I'll be inside to watch over the exercise, and advise you if you start doing anything too stupid. Ten minutes starts now."

He clicked his timer, and watched them quickly break into their four teams. Miller and Folkson paired up, and seemed to be making some joint plans, while the other two conferred only briefly with them then broke off to talk seperately with their own teams. He tilted his head over at Snake Eyes. "Your apprentices ready?" He got a nod. "It's gonna be a long day. I'll bet they're all killed within twenty minutes the first run." Snake Eyes smiled under the mask at him. "Too generous?"

*If they last longer than ten I'm dealing out punishment to my apprentices. Jinx has been looking forward to this for a week, and Kamakura is determined to show her up. I still think we should have brought in TunnelRat and Scarlett, just to add some ground-pounders.*

BeachHead snorted at him. "Right.. like your two ninjas won't wipe these guys up on their own in embarrassingly short order."

Snake Eyes leaned back a bit, thinking. *I think you'll get them in order soon enough. If they can't tag either of my apprentices by the end of the day, we'll have to find different ones to test. We NEED some back-up for the Joes that can go into fights without being slaughtered wholesale.*

Taking a deep breath BeachHead agreed. "Yeah. These are the best I got right now." He lowered his voice. "What weapons did you allow yours?"

Snake Eyes stepped forward and turned, putting his back to the greenshirts who were conferring and planning. His signed reply was hidden by his body. *I told them they could mimic Red Clan ninjas, and they tend to stick with traditional weapons. Thrown weapons, swords, staffs, traps.. I discouraged firearms and bows.. just to give your team a fighting chance. You already train against firearms anyway.*

The sergeant major nodded and checked his stopwatch. "TWO MINUTES!" He watched them. "Williams is gonna die two steps in, I just know it." The ninja shrugged. "I hope Jinx takes out the Mouth. I wanna watch."

Snake Eyes shifted his weight. *If you'd mentioned, I would have made it a special objective for her.*

BeachHead gave a short laugh, and turned as Miller trotted up. "Sergeant major? Are we supposed to try to capture any ninjas?" Snake Eyes put a hand over his visor and walked aside, his shoulders shaking as he laughed silently.

BeachHead lowered his head for a second and then looked at his greenshirt team captain. "Corporal.. ninjas are sharp and pokey, you probably should stick with trying to wound or kill them. I wouldn't reccomend grabbing one, if you happen to get close enough. But..." He smiled and lifted his voice. "ANYONE who captures a enemy ninja.. I'll give a week-long furlough."

Snake Eyes looked over and signed elaborately. *If one of your greenshirts captures a ninja intact, I'll get them a cake. A big cake.*

BeachHead grinned. "You saw it. You capture one, you'll get week's leave, and a cake. I better not see anyone sacrificing the whole team to try to capture a ninja, or I'll flay you alive. Real life schenario, remember that!" He turned to look at the entryway to the area. "Where is that sorry medic?" As if summoned by his very irritation, a Jeep swung in through the gateway. The red clad medic climbed out and pulled his bag behind him.

Lifeline nodded to them both. "So.. any injured yet?"

BeachHead snorted at him. "We aint' started yet."

"But Williams is here.. it's a legitimate question."

The sergeant sighed heavily. "Point taken. Alright maggots! Lock and load.. your weapons are in the cases. Your teams should each have a color... I don't care which is which.. just pick a color for your team and get your ammo. Those paint grenades have eight second fuses, and you cannot disarm them once you pull the pin. Inserting the pin will just make it explode in your hand, so let's not give Lifeline ANY buisiness today right? Let's make him be bored alllll danged day." He smirked at the medic who put his hands in his pockets.

Snake Eyes looked at him too. *Got any candy?*

Digging in a pocket, Lifeline offered up a handful of hard candies. "Uhh.. mostly butterscotch." The ninja plucked one up and tucked it into a pocket. He signed thanks and walked to the doorway to wait.

BeachHead gave his troops one last looking over. "Okay Snakes! You need to signal your crew?" At the negetive headshake, he lifted his voice. "Okay greenshirts! You just recieved word, your sentry is down. Command just sent you here to check it out, and you found his body with a ninja weapon lodged in his head. What is your first move?"

Mouth raised a hand and smirked. "Call command and request Snake Eyes as back up?" A short laugh went around.

BeachHead struggled not to smile, because that would be one of his first choices. "Sorry. Snakes is off in Khazikan hunting European twitter-flitters for his birding list. You're on your own. Any serious answers?"

Miller spoke up. "Call Command, advise we may have hostiles, possible ninjas, unknown number. We'll check in every ten minutes, and they should assume we've been taken out if we fail a checkpoint. Establish security procedure, and move in." He made a motion to his group and they scurried to the doorway, flanked by Folkson's group behind.

BeachHead looked over to Snake Eyes who waited patiently. "Alright.." The ninja leapt upwards, grasping the drainpipe and climbing to a upper window and disappearing within. "Go in.."

Lifeline looked at him as the door was opened and the first two peered in, poking the rifle muzzles inside carefully and checking all directions. "I guess I'll just wait out here?" Beach nodded, in a distracted manner.

"Yeah.. " He watched the group deploy to the inside in a calm and unhurried manner. Classic deployment, teams of two, each pair moving to flank the one before them. "Watch your crossfire... friendly fire counts as kills, no matter who it hits." He lifted his stopwatch and checked the time. He looked at Lifeline. "I'll bet you five bucks that half of them bleed before today is over."

Lifeline shook his head. "No bet." He smiled at the beefy soldier. "If I did bet, you'd just make them bleed yourself to win the bet."

BeachHead grinned evilly. "Now yer talkin. See ya on the outside.." He followed the first ten in, stepping to one side quickly. Mouth came in leading his team, and he watched them run in at a crouch, moving too quickly to a side lane.

The warehouse was huge, several acres, and contained mostly empty crates for effect. Shelving ran nearly to the ceiling high above, although the was a second story along one side, enclosed as offices originally. Some of the windows to the offices were broken out or missing, so he expected sniping fire to emerge from there at some point. The lighting was dim.. and he turned, peering at a stack of crates. He might have seen a flash of movement. The movement was repeated and he relaxed as he recognized Miller's point man.

"Good elevation.. check 360..." His voice carried, but he didn't yell. He was going to let them make whatever mistakes they wanted this first run. He heard a muffled curse from his right and walked over to poke his head around the stack of crates into the walkway. The Mouth's entire team was lying on the floor obediantly, with the team leader sitting cross-legged in the center. "You die sittin' up?" He received a glare and the Mouth flopped over to lie there staring angrily at the ceiling. BeachHead walked through the fallen greenshirts, noting the time on his stopwatch. Six minutes and already an entire team of five were down. The other three teams probably had no idea yet either. "Dang it.."

He climbed up a ladder to the first landing and stood there overlooking the floor space. Miller's double sized team was spread along the center, moving slowly but steadily across the warehouse floor. He counted heads and noted another two missing. The last team of four seemed to be gone, and wondered if they were already dead as well. A flurry of motion made him focus on Miller's group. The pop of the paintball guns going off sounded and he peered for the targets they were aiming at.

He saw Snake Eyes up on the upper level watching. He gave a short wave and held up his hands. He clumsily fingerspelled "T.e.r.y.i.s." The ninja gave him a thumb's down. "Geez..." He looked down as the last man in Miller's group toppled over from a thrown dagger it looked like. "ALRIGHT!! Dead greenshirts walkin'." The various members got up grumbling and started back to the front door. "That was more pathetic than I expected. I thought you'd last at LEAST ten whole minutes. How can we improve?"

The Mouth sounded put out. "We could wait at the door for the first ten minutes." He turned to glare at the young man. "Sorry sergeant major.. but we never even SAW one of them."

Miller coughed slightly. He had a bruise on his forehead and the purple dye smeared across it. "We saw one.. but when we saw him, he unloaded on us. Williams almost hit him I think."

BeachHead raised an eyebrow and shouted across the warehouse. "Snake Eyes! Anyone hit out there?" The ninja looked over from his viewing spot and shook his head. "Close?" He watched the head turn to look into the depths of the warehouse for a few seconds. Then he held up a hand to show a few inches. "That's pretty danged close. Congrats Williams. Teryis.. anyone in your group see anything before you died?"

The slender black woman stiffened. "I might have.. could have been a shadow, so I won't claim it as a sighting."

He smiled. "Good girl. Don't ever count a 'maybe' as a 'yes'. No injuries?" Everyone shook their heads. "We're going to do this again, and this time I'm going to watch from up above, and advise you teams. Load up if you managed to fire your weapon, and I'll shout for entry to begin when I'm in place." He shook his head and moved up to the same observation point as Snake Eyes. The ninja was leaning casually on the railing as he walked over and pointed at the floor of the catwalk in warning. BeachHead looked and found several weak spots. "Thanks.. I'll try not to fall through. You ready?" He was answered with a shrug, and turned to bellow at the front door. "TIME!"

This time, the first team through moved fast, taking the right hand aisle and holding it, while the second team of five moved in to flank and cover them to advance as well. The other two teams deployed in an identical manner, to the left aisle. Good planning as far as it went. BeachHead watched them advance at a slight crouch, leading with weapons at the ready, searching along the aisle, checking every pathway and space big enough to hide a attacker.

Snake Eyes pointed at Miller's team. *Williams leading, put best man in front. Tell them to check all those crevices next time.*

BeachHead looked over as the group drew abreast of a spot that the crates were sitting only about a foot apart. No one bothered to peer into the shadowed crevice. Even before he could yell at them to do a better job of checking spots, he saw a dark shape dodge out. From the slender build, it had to be Jinx. She came slithering out behind one greenshirt with his back to her, marked his throat with a dye blade, dropped low to wipe it across the belly of the next man, and rolled into an impossibly small spot across the aisle before anyone could get fully turned to aim. At least a full two seconds after she'd disappeared, a flurry of paintballs hit the crates. Miller was shouting for the team to move back, with it breaking into 3 front men moving further into 'unsecured' space, and 5 troops stepping back, and all of them were focused on where Jinx had disappeared. That's why none of them saw her come out twenty feet back along the aisle to roll a paint grenade into the five man team.

Miller sounded like he'd begun to panic. "Don't group up!" His five trailing men were laying in the aisle, looking disgruntled and mostly pink. "Williams.. get some elevation.. we need to spot them to shoot them!" Snake Eyes straightened up and watched as Williams slung his rifle and climbed up onto the crates beside him, clambering up to try to reach the highest spot. "Flank him for covering fire.. " Miller turned his back to the crate pile, peering along the aisleway nervously.

BeachHead looked over as Snake Eyes leapt the railing and dropped to hands and feet to move through the rafter ironwork. Dodging around beams and under tackle and ropes, the ninja was over the battle area in seconds and dropped to the stack next to them, landing lightly on the balls of his feet. Scrambling downward, he made one final jump to the stack Williams had climbed up, just in time to snatch the hapless young man as he tumbled by him. One powerful arm swung him to the side, dumping him onto the floor safely, and saving him from serious injury from a nasty fall. He was rewarded by being hit by about five paintballs as Miller and his last man nailed him.

BeachHead grinned but made certain his voice sounded seriously annoyed. "DO NOT SHOOT SNAKE EYES!! What part of that wasn't PERFECTLY clear?!?"

Miller squeeked and held up his hands as the black clad ninja twisted to glare at him. "Sorry!! Sorry Sgt Snake Eyes!! I didn't see it was you!! I thought it was one of the n-n-ninjas attacking us!" Snake Eyes brushed ineffectively at the bright purple paint dotting his thigh and belly.

Williams spoke up from his spot on the floor. "Thank you Sergeant Snake Eyes. Do I have to be dead now?"

BeachHead groaned. "YES!! You're dead, lie down and shut it!" Williams laid himself down in a comfortable looking position and, knowing Williams, probably went to sleep. "Miller, you have TWO in your group, think about what you can do right now!" He checked and found that Mouth and Folkson were moving very slowly and carefully down the far left aisle, so he walked partway down the catwalk to keep an eye on their progress. He was astounded to see that all ten men were still alive. Teryris was taking the point, with her five strung out along behind her. Mouth was next and his five followed more bunched up. "MOUTH! Spread those men out... Teryris, good spacing.."

BeachHead saw Snake Eyes climbing the wall in quick fluid leaps to gain the upper catwalk again. Then he moved along the rafters slowly, peering down into the warehouse proper. The purple blotches made it easier to see the commando. He checked and saw Miller and his last man crouched, moving across the warehouse cautiously, edging from cover to cover and checking any spot that could hide a cockroach. From the look of it, he was trying to find the other group to hook up, which pleased the Sergeant Major. They couldn't be effective with only two people, and the best bet was to re-enforce the second group.

By the time his eyes slid back across to the larger group, he saw Jinx on top of a stack of crates, waiting for the group to pass. He pressed his lips together and watched. When half the group was past her, she dropped silently into the middle. The first man she landed on went down hard, and she slashed a dull sword coated with sticky dye to take out the next. Dropping low, she twisted and stabbed to hit another square in the chest. Leaping up sideways, she planted her feet against the crates to propel her across the way, as the rear guard opened fire at her, and liberally sprayed paintballs into three of the forward men. By this time, there was a lot of shouting and movement, and BeachHead watched the remaining four back up and plant themselves in almost identical crouches, to be able to aim upwards and miss the others in their patrol. Jinx hadn't stopped at the side of the aisle, but dove back along the aisle, rolling in a tumble to rise up directly under the rifle of Mouth, killing him effectively, and snatching a grenade from the front of his jacket and tossing it at the front pair. In another split second she leapt upwards, spidering up the crates and disappearing, while the last man standing accidently shot Mouth with a full clip.

Miller and his man dodged out into the aisle, rifles ready, to find the dead patrol and one last man trying to reload his rifle. He pointed up at the crates Jinx had disappeared over, and Miller pointed forward, covering as the other two moved past him. They all looked rattled but he was proud of how collected they were, still keeping in discipline and moving together. Snake Eyes dropped onto the catwalk beside him lightly. "Nice work.. where's Kamakura? I've only seen Jinx."

Snake Eyes snorted. *He's outside chatting with Lifeline. Jinx is being a lone ninja this time."

BeachHead nodded towards the group of dead troops. "You didn't say you let them have grenades."

The ninja shook his head. *Jinx took both grenades off your men. That's within the limitations I set. They didn't come in with grenades, but they can steal them off your men and use them.*

Nodding, the sergeant leaned to look as the group passed beneath his vantage point before he moved further down. "Yeah.. that's allowed. I saw her pull the one from Mouth, missed her snatching the first one. Any advice for when the last three go down?"

Snakes tilted his head. *Tell them to look up. Assign men to shoot, stay low and shoot high, same for anyone going up onto elevated platforms.* He looked at BeachHead. *Why aren't any of them up here?* The sergeant rolled his eyes.

"Probably because they're terrified you'll take them out. Thanks, I'll advise them. I think next trip, I'll take point on one group. And... there she comes.." He sighed as Jinx went slashing through the last three, although Miller finally managed to hit her in the calf with one stray paintball, just as she jumped up and over to 'stab' him in the back. Then she bent to peer at her calf, cursing. Although all the greenshirts were down, she limped back into cover. "Is Jinx okay?"

Snake Eyes smiled under his mask. *She has to be wounded. She'll have a cloth tied around her leg now, slowing her down. Maybe next time you'll manage a kill."

Beach went rattling down the steps, shouting as he did. "ALRIGHT! Dead greenshirts out! Better time at eighteen whole minutes! At this rate I'll end up with one live man after an hour in a warehouse with ONE DANGED NINJA!" The greenshirts filed out, one limping and one nursing a swollen cheek. "Folkson, Haberton, see Lifeline. Everyone else fall out and get some water and discuss how to stay alive a little longer. Miller! Nice job, you tagged one ninja in the leg before you died."

BeachHead sighed heavily, watching his dye and paint spattered greenshirts mill around. "Gawd... this is not going that well."

* * * *

Well well... the ninjas seem to be doing awfully well.. what would YOU do to help train the greenshirts? There's a second chapter working already. Hopefully Williams won't fall off anymore crates, since I'm not sure SnakeEyes wants to bother rescuing him a second time.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I know, it's been a long time coming but here's an update! I hope it's enjoyed!

* * * *

BeachHead let them water themselves before grouping them up. "Lifeline! Where is that.. there you are." The medic tucked his hands into his pockets. "What's the report?"

Lifeline gave a light shrug. "Folkson has a sore thigh, might have strained something when Jinx landed on him. Haberton will have a bruise, but he's fine. Other than a few bumps from point-blank paintball shots, everyone is fine to continue. Do you know if the ninjas are fine?"

BeachHead looked at the warehouse. "I'm sure if they ain't, they'll come to you. Did Kamakura go back inside?" He was given a wary nod. "I know he was out here, Snakes told me." Lifeline relaxed. "I don't care, he wasn't needed for the exercise apparently." He raised his voice to address the group.

"Alright, better time, but you were working against ONE NINJA. ONE! So we're gonna do better. First advice from our esteemed ninja master is to watch three-sixty, you're too used to paying attention to ground level. Second, you need to figure out who is gonna be shooting, and they need to keep low, so you don't end up taking out half your own squad with friendly fire trying to hit a ninja in the middle of your troops. We're gonna assign at least one man with each team to do nothing but consider grenades, and when and how to get a grenade to a ninja. So far you've been killed with your own ordinance, and that is UNacceptable." He puffed out a breath, looking them over. "Look at yourselves.. how many of you were hit by friendly fire? That is UNacceptable. This is gonna be a REAL LIFE SITUATION, real danged soon! I do not want to be writing no letters home to your mommies, telling them you're dead. So we're gonna do this again.. and again.. and again.. until we learn to kill ninjas."

He picked up one of the paintball rifles. "I'm gonna lead one team.. Miller, as one of the longest lived guys so far, you get to lead the other one. Form up.. let's go kick some ninja butt." He waited for the teams to separate. "We're going in low, Williams, Teryis, you're point, check three hundred and sixty degrees at all times. Haberton, you're our grenade man.. we got plenty of grenades, so use 'em. Just don't kill any of US with one." He moved up to the doorway. "Miller... you ready?" At the nod from the determined young man, Beach tilted his head sideways, hearing his neck crackle. "Alright... go." His pointmen crouched and moved in quickly, headed directly for cover, spinning to check the crates nearby and then the spaces that attack could come from.

BeachHead moved in next.. drifting in quietly, motioning his men into position and controlling their progress. They made it halfway down the first aisle before they heard a spate of paintball gunfire. He gave a short attention wave, then signaled for them to continue. The first shadow that moved, he stepped sideways away from, even as he swung his gun around. Williams got off the first three rounds just before he fired himself. Certain they had both missed, Beach stepped backwards, already swinging around to check the surrounding crates. Williams moved in closer to check, finding nothing.

The first attack aborted, they moved only twenty feet before a dark figure dropped almost on top of Williams. He fell to a sword stroke, Kamakura already sliding past him to slash two more men before heading directly for Beach. He dropped to one knee, ducking the sword blade, and struggling to swivel enough to shoot him as he passed by. Instead he barely missed, his paintballs splattering the crates just behind his retreating form. There was a loud bang of a paint grenade going off beside him, and he cursed. Wiping bright blue paint off his left eye, he sat down against the crates and shut his mouth.

Haberton stammered slightly. "Sorry Sergeant Major!! I thought I... I mean..." Beach just glared at him, being dead. Teryis took over the patrol and moved them further along. They only made another fifty feet before Kamakura dropped in again, coming from the rear. The troop swiveled around, firing at the ninja attacker, spending their ammo on the corridor they'd just traveled down as they missed the agile figure. BeachHead flattened out on the floor, covering his head with both hands as paintballs hit him and the other three 'dead' men. The wild sprays of ammunition shifted to the ceiling as the remaining live greenshirts dropped down low, firing upward as Kamakura leapt over a potential victim. BeachHead looked up as the ninja apprentice was hit twice. He looked extremely upset and came to a stop, kneeling in place immediately, placing hands on head.

His disgruntled voice made BeachHead grin. "Dead."

Haberton, one of only two living survivors in the team, grinned hugely. "You gotta lie down and be.." There was a bang and the grenade he'd been holding in his hand went off, splashing not only himself but the other surviver in a coat of yellow paint. He'd apparently pulled the pin, intending to toss it at Kamakura, but forgotten once the ninja had been 'shot', holding it instead of throwing it.

BeachHead spoke up, dead or not. "Haberton.. your hand okay?" The young man shook it but nodded, carefully laying himself down. Snake Eyes suddenly appeared, making the two greenshirts laying next to those crates jump involuntarily. He reached towards Haberton's arm, motioning for him to show his hand to the ninja. After checking it, Snake Eyes motioned him out, signing to BeachHead with Lifeline's name sign. "How bad?" The sergeant major climbed to his feet. "Come on.. we'll move it out..Kamakura.. out too."

His squad got up to file their way out. Once he saw them out and yelled at the medic to check everyone, BeachHead moved back inside. He moved towards the catwalk, intending to oversee Miller's group if they were still alive. Halfway up the steps, he was tackled bodily and knocked flying into the metal railing. "Oomph... get offa me!" Despite the speed at which he grabbed for her, Jinx slipped away, leaving him liberally 'stabbed' in several spots with dye. "I'm already dead, dang it!" Realizing he'd automatically carried his paint rifle with him, he cursed and got back up to get on top of the catwalk.

The second team was down to four members, although Jinx was 'limping' very convincingly with a second 'wound' splattered green across her upper thigh. Beach leaned on the railing, watching them move across the floor carefully. They'd adopted the technique of creeping along crouched fairly low, with their grenader towards the middle. They weren't conserving ammo in any way, letting fly with shots if they thought they spotted Jinx. He winced when a paint grenade was tossed over some crates into the middle of them. This time someone managed to kick it further down the aisle, even as the grenade thrower chucked one back into the same spot they'd just been attacked from. Both grenades went off without wounding anyone.

Just as they were turning to continue, Jinx spun down into them, flicking throwing stars into the front two, and slicing the back two, although she did take another paintball to her stomach this time.

BeachHead clapped from his vantage point. "Very very good. You wounded her once, and killed her, although you died too. Better and better. Outside again.. Jinx! Go see Lifeline. SNAKE EYES!?!" His bellow echoed off the back wall, and he heard the finger snapping from behind him and turned to see the ninja lounging on a loop of cargo rope. "Oh.. there you are.. you wanna come on out too? I figure we need to break, discuss some options and I'd like you to advise us on plans."

Rolling off his rope, Snake Eyes landed softly on the balls of his feet and padded down the stairs. BeachHead followed him, rubbing at the half dried paint seeping through his mask behind his ear. By the time he'd gotten outside, Lifeline was just getting done checking the last greenshirt.

"You'll have some colorful bruising." The medic handed the young woman a bottle of eyewash. "Go rinse it until it doesn't sting anymore. The paint is non-toxic, just irritating." He turned to look at Beachhead with raised eyebrows. "Did you get MORE paint on you?"

Beach gave him a irritated look. "Yeah.. ninja stabby dye, thanks to Jinx not realizing I was already dead. As if the half gallon of paint wasn't obvious." He was handed a wet towel. "Thanks.." He peeled off his mask, grimacing at the paint on it. Using the towel, he wiped paint off his face near his eyes carefully.

Lifeline insisted on checking his eyes quickly. "Are they stinging? I think you should have had goggles on. At least the greenshirts have goggles to wear to protect their eyes, when they remember to put them on." He glared at the returning woman who held out the bottle of eye wash sheepishly. The medic turned to Kamakura who was standing nearby. "What? You're fine.. a few paintball bruises."

The apprentice nodded and looked away, rubbing his neck awkwardly. "Uh-huh, I'm good. Did you have butterscotches?" Lifeline sighed but dug into his thigh pocket to find the hard candies and Kamakura took one and beamed at him. "Thank you!" He wandered off to where Snake Eyes and Jinx were. The three ninjas huddled in a discussion of some sort.

BeachHead took a deeper breath. "Alright... gather up. Everyone is fit to continue. Good job this last pass. You're still droppin' like flies to friendly fire. Gotta stop that. Half the dead are from friendly shots or grenades. Then there's Haberton... "

He strode over to stand in front of the paint spattered young man. "When ya pull Mr Pin... Mr Grenade is no longer yer friend! What part of this lesson fails to impress ya? I hope it ain't the part where it goes boom in yer own hand."

Haberton looked at the ground. "Yes Sergeant major."

Beach twisted to look at them all. "Alright.. any suggestions on how ta improve yer ninja killin' ability?"

Mouth snorted loudly. "I say we take off and nuke the warehouse from orbit.." He paused slightly. "Only way to be sure."

Despite the spatter of snickers and chuckles, BeachHead didn't seem amused. "Well ya don't get to make that call. Haberton.. YOU will carry grenades again. You will learn to throw grenades safely if I gotta beat ya every time ya do it wrong!"

Turning to stalk down the lines of assembled greenshirts, Beach spoke up sharply. "Everyone will try to stay low.. shoot upwards when possible.. check 360 at all times and remember that once the ninja disappears into a crevice or over a crate, he's not gonna stay there just outa sight fer you to shoot at. Grenades go to ninjas.. not to us. I do not wanna be killed by one of our own grenades again. Spend some ammo.. ya all did great at that. Remember.. ammo is cheap.. life ain't."

SnakeEyes was giving his apprentices a stern lecture. *Kamakura, you were sloppy attacking over the tops that way. Once you were airborne, you were helpless to dodge. Flying through the air looks dramatic but stay on the ground when possible."

Jinx smirked slightly. "Air time needs to be a minimum whenever possible. You never use thrown weapons enough." Kamakura frowned at her but refused to respond.

SnakeEyes turned to her. *You should remember that thrown weapons are 'distance' weapons. Use the distance. Either of you should be able to take out a twenty man team with distance weapons alone. That might not be the real aim here.. we're training the greenshirts to defend against attacking enemy ninja and to attack ninja without dying. But you should remember to use the distance weapons first and foremost from cover.*

Throughly chastened, Jinx nodded. "Yes Sensei." Her eyes glanced at her apprentice brother. "I did outlast you. I didn't die at all the first few times. You were killed much sooner."

"I died but I took out a lot of the soldiers before I died. It was just a lucky shot!" Always ready to rise to her baiting, Kamakura stiffened in anger. "You just always have to point out that you're the senior apprentice!"

"Not only senior but better. If you were capable of mastering the basics, you could move on to the advanced forms." Jinx's eyes narrowed.

SnakeEyes swatted out casually, thumping Jinx in the head and sending her tumbling to the ground. Kamakura ducked ineffectively as the commando swung a leg to kick him backwards to land sprawled on the pavement. They both jumped to their feet in ready positions facing him.

Jinx bounced to the side and suddenly dropped in low to weave in, trying to land a punch in the lean ribs. She caught a second blow to the head, slinging her aside as SnakeEyes lifted one leg to kick an oncoming Kamakura in the chest and knock him flying backwards again. Before his foot touched down, he twisted in the air to kick around in a perfect arc to take out Jinx a second time as she jumped him from behind. Before Kamakura could regain his feet, SnakeEyes was on him, a forearm locking down across his neck. A quick twist and a blur of movement and the apprentice was pinned facedown easily, his arms tangled in one of the ninja master's, his thigh pinned to the ground by the older man's foot.

"Unngh.. mmmuuuhhhh-thheeee.. mmuuutheeeee.." Kamakura's indistinct surrendering plea made SnakeEyes release him. The lean form stepped towards Jinx who was just managing to get to her knees.

She held up her wrists. "Mercy!" He walked over and took her forearm to drag her up to her feet. "Sorry Sensei!"

He pointed at her. *Sharp tongue.. you'll sharpen every blade in the Pit.. even the scissors in the office desks.*

He twisted to point at Kamakura. *Lack of temper.. you will serve as a body for hand-to-hand for all beginning classes for the next week. Lose your temper again, I'll give you to BeachHead for a week.*

He bowed deeply. "Yes Sensei. I apologize Sensei." Thinking more quickly than his apprentice sister he turned and bowed to her as well. "I apologize sister Jinx for losing my temper to your teasing."

She scowled but gave him a short bow in return. "I apologize most sincerely for teasing you, brother."

The surface reconciliation satisfied their master and he pointed at the building. *Back inside, work together for the next exercise. One more fight between you and I will tie you together by the wrist for a week and see if that solves the issue.* His sharp movements as he signed at them made them understand it was no idle threat.

He watched them scramble into the building at top speed, disappearing immediately. His good humor with the exercise had disappeared with his apprentices sniping and then challenging of him. Normally even-tempered in the worst conditions, he was on edge already after a minor disagreement with Scarlett. Now he was downright irked.

BeachHead cleared his throat. "Annnnnnd.. now that the ninja squabble is over..." SnakeEyes turned to glare at him. "It IS over right? I mean.. if ya'll need a few more minutes to tussle around on the ground... I'm sure we can jus' wait."

The single finger sign needed no interpretation. SnakeEyes stalked off to stand next to a nervous Lifeline.

The Sergeant major snorted in amusement. "And see that's why I'd never make a good ninja.. I'm not liable to go hauling off and havin' a knock-down over a little insult or two. But ninja are all happy to have unstable type people obviously." He cast a glance over towards the ninja only to see the black form almost on top of him already. "HEY!! YAaaaalllp!"

His body was flung forwards, yanked to a stop by a strong hold on his shoulder strap and twisted backwards over one outstretched leg. "UUUhhhhhngg.. leggo.." Beach tried to figure out how his arm ended up twisted underneath him, not to mention how he'd ended up bent backwards over SnakeEyes' knee pinned in a extremely uncomfortable position that was making snarky remarks rather impossible at the moment. Breathing wasn't all that fun either, come to think of it. "Leggo.. crazy freakin' ninja.." SnakeEyes reached with his free hand to pinch his nose shut through the balaclava cloth. Forced to suck air through his mouth, Beach contemplated the fact that he had all four limbs pinned effectively by a ninja who STILL had a hand free to poke him with. "Sorry... leggo now?"

He was released and flipped forward to land on his hands and knees gasping. "Danged ninja.. I get it.. 'don't tease the ninja'.. dang.." Struggling up to his feet, he twisted his neck a bit and shook his left arm out some. "Alright.. show's over.. get formed up. We got trainin' to do here."

The greenshirts wisely kept the snickering and amused looks to a bare minimum.. even Mouth. BeachHead chivvied them back into formation. "Get yer butts geared up.. goggles ON, dang it Folkson.. those goggles don't do ya any good up on yer danged forehead."

Getting all of them formed up into the smaller groups, he hazarded a look over at the Jeep. Lifeline gave him a palm's up shrug to indicate that he didn't know, then pointed to the warehouse. Taking that to mean the ninja master had already entered the building, BeachHead shouted for the recruits to shape up.

"Alright.. same teams.. I'll take my team in second.. remember, no friendly fire this time." He hefted the paintball rifle and watched Miller send in Mouth, then Folkson. The rest of his team followed cautiously, going in at a crouch and moving to cover quickly in a professional manner. They disappeared among the crates as they took the left hand walkway.

BeachHead led his team in this time.. taking point and covering for the rest of the team to come in and take up positions. He stayed low, checking the crates overhead constantly, flicking the rifle barrel to cover gaps and crevices. His team followed his example, Williams sticking behind him to cover the opposite spots efficiently.

A slight hiss made Beach twist to see Teryis point up at a crate forty feet down the corridor. He gave a slight nod and sped up, moving down the walkway at a low crouch silently, pointing upwards with the barrel of his gun. Williams stuck behind him, checking the opposite side of the corridor in case the ninja had moved already.

As Beach feared, the shadowy form that detached from the concealing crate and dropped into the group did so further back from where he was headed. Before he could twist around, Kamakura had taken out three greenshirts and dodged back between crates. Haberton pitched a grenade over the crates to where the ninja should have emerged. When it popped, they all heard cursing. "Dead!" BeachHead grinned to himself.

"Good job.." His low voice carried a pleased note. First encounter, and although he'd lost three men, they took out a ninja. He turned back down the corridor and went down immediately under the smaller form of Jinx who slashed at his neck with her dye blade before she kicked off of his chest, driving him the last foot into the floor. The loud thud of his back hitting the concrete was followed by his struggles to get air into his lungs. The unexpected attack had completely surprised him and the tiny ninja apprentice had driven him into the ground so hard it had knocked the breath out of him.

Thrashing about, he struggled to breathe, feeling his head swim he hoped he wouldn't pass out. Jinx was really too small to be able to knock him down this hard. He managed to roll over and suck in air finally. Coughing wildly, he tried to avoid breathing in the dust off the floor as the blackness receded and his brain began to reoxygenate itself. Someone helpfully patted his back twice. "Sergeant major?" Of course it would be Williams. "You alright?"

"UUhhhhh.. " Beach drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I'm fine." Levering himself up and gaining his feet again, he shook his head and looked around at the multitude of dead troops. He coughed again. "Alright.. everyone is dead. Get up.. head out the entrance." Before he could finish going up the stairs to his observation post, he found the rest of the soldiers had been killed. "Alright.. EVERYONE OUT!"

Once he had his troops gathered up outside. "Much better. Took down a ninja with only three casualties. No friendly fire? Okay.. two friendly fire. That's much better. Think about what ya been doin' different. Haberton.. nice grenade work on killin' Kamakura."

In very short order, he had them formed up to go back in. Lifeline rattled off a list of minor bumps and scrapes that everyone had accumulated. Since there was nothing major, he dismissed it and headed back in, sending Miller's team in first this time. He watched the cautious movements of the team ahead of him.

This time Jinx attacked first, sliding out from between crates to slash and stab. She threw a purloined grenade forward only for it to be swatted aside by Miller. Williams swung around as the woman flipped through the confusion, his rifle coming up even as he yelled. "Down! Down!" The two greenshirts in his line of fire dropped as she came near, and Williams took several shots. Jinx easily dodged out of the way, disappearing between a crate and a stack of plywood. Williams' last shots missed entirely.

"OW!!" The yelp from outside made Beach lift his head from where he'd ducked to avoid the shots.

He stood and held up a fist. "HOLD!!! ALL HOLD!!!" The call went through the warehouse and Beach trotted down the walkway to the open doorway.

"Lifeline? Ya okay?" He was treated to the medic hopping around beside the Jeep, gritting his teeth and howling with pain. "Geez.. how'd ya get hit out here?"

The slender medical officer gripped at his now purple-painted knee. "Ahhhh!!! I was just standing there!! And suddenly boom! I got hit in the kneecap! Man!! It hurts!" He hobbled a step or two on it and then hopped again. "OW!!"

BeachHead reached to steady him a second and bent to twitch the pants leg sideways a little. Poking at the knee, he felt the joint carefully, ignoring the yelps of pain. "Stand on it." Lifeline stood still for a second. "Aww.. yer fine. It's jus' bruised. Walk it off, ya pogue."

Given a light shove, Lifeline hobbled a wide circle while grumbling to himself. "I'm not supposed to get shot, I'm outside and I'm the medic. Walk it off... more like limping it off. Heartless bastard." He glared at BeachHead who hefted the paintball rifle and looked like he was contemplating shooting him. "Don't you shoot me! Once is enough!"

"Are ya sure?" BeachHead grinned under his paint spattered facemask. "If'n I shot ya in yer other knee.. ya wouldn't limp in circles.. make it all even?"

Getting a disgusted glare as a reply, Beach just shook his head and went back inside the warehouse to wave everyone back into place. "He's fine.. silly fobbit got hit by a stray paintball. Try not to shoot out the doors."

Williams nodded. "Sorry Sergeant major.. is Lifeline okay?"

"He's fine.. he'll limp and have a new appreciation for those of us that get hit by these paintballs. Lifeline's tougher than ya think." Beach raised his voice. "ALRIGHT!! GO LIVE AGAIN!" He crouched and clicked the safety off of his paintball rifle again. Crouching down, he waved his team into positions and pointed at Teryis to take point.

She moved down the walkway easily, checking all the various spots that a ninja could attack from. When the first attack happened, it was from above, two of them going down to throwing stars hitting them hard. A bare hint of movement heralded Jinx's disappearance before anyone could aim.

"Move forward.." His low voice urged his team to continue moving. He crouched and looked upwards, searching the upper catwalk for SnakeEyes. The second scan spotted the ninja by the purple blotches on his uniform. He gave a quick up and down wave to attract his attention. Fingerspelling out *m.i.l.l.e.r.* slowly, he watched SnakeEyes hold up seven fingers and give a thumb's up. He was pleased that Miller had seven live men left at this point. Checking the time, he found they'd been live fire for almost twenty minutes.

Just as his attention returned to his team, Jinx attacked again, slipping through the group as they scrambled to be able to aim at her. Half of the greenshirts dropped to a knee to shoot upwards, the other half were busy trying to dive or dodge out of her range. Teryis took a nice shot to 'wound' the slender ninja in one arm. Jinx dropped her blade in that hand but tossed a throwing spike to take out his pointman in retaliation.

His voice rose. "DOWN!! Take her out! Watch your six! Check the rear!" She ducked towards Williams who took a hasty shot which missed. Beach twisted to scan behind the team and spotted Kamakura just as he appeared to attack while the greenshirts were concentrating on Jinx. "TO THE REAR!" He popped off two rounds as Kamakura dodged to the side. Dropping to one knee, he hoped he was out of the line of fire for the rest of his team. Williams stepped up and fired over BeachHead's shoulder.

"AUUGH!!" Kamakura clutched at his face and went to his knees. "Ahh.. dead DEAD!! Argghh..."

BeachHead shouted loudly "ALL HOLD!" Within a few steps he grabbed to tilt the young apprentice's face up. "Lemme see.. you hit in the eye?"

"No.. no.. I don't think so.." Kamakura's face had a splatter of pink paint across his cheek and eye. "Just missed my eye.. hurts though." Beach lifted his voice to shout across the warehouse for Lifeline to come in.

The medic poked his head in the open doorway. "Where at?" Williams waved at him from his perch on a nearby crate.

BeachHead shouted again. "STAND DOWN! Head outside." He peered at the rapidly swelling knot. "I think you're fine.. looks like it hit the edge of your eye socket.. you guys need to have goggles on I think."

Lifeline rushed up just as SnakeEyes arrived. "How bad is it?"

Kamakura shook his head and tried to wipe gingerly at his face. "I think I'm okay. Took a face shot." He let SnakeEyes examine his face while Lifeline looked on. "I'm sorry.. I thought I was hit in the eye at first. It's pretty painful."

The medic took a closer look, probing along the eye itself. "I need to rinse this out good. Let's go outside where I've got better light."

A few minutes of eye rinse made Kamakura declare he was fine. Williams looked pretty hangdog and tried to apologize. The young ninja smiled at him. "It's fine, that's what you're supposed to do. I guess we should be wearing more safety equipment but this is training for us as well. No use to train while wearing equipment we won't have on during real life missions."

Lifeline gave him a significantly disapproving look. "Safety equipment could have kept you from this injury which could have put you on medical leave which would have prevented you from going on those oh-so-important missions."

Kamakura sighed at him. "Yes Lifeline." He cast his eyes over at SnakeEyes who threw his hands in the air. "Sorry Sensei.. he's a medic.. he'll ground me and I won't be able to do anything at all."

*I'll break both your arms and you won't be able to do anything at all.* The unamused ninja crossed his arms and waited.

Kamakura looked to Lifeline. "Sorry.. he ranks you in this." He wiped the last of the pink paint off his face. "I'm fine.. I'm ready to go back in."

Mouth had walked up casually and suddenly grabbed Kamakura around the chest from behind. "I got a ninja!" He grinned at the black-clad ninja master who was staring at him. "Sergeant SnakeEyes.. you owe me a cake."

There was a loud thud as he landed about ten feet away on his head. Kamakura stared down at him with the point of his very sharp katana blade at his throat. "I was dead.. not captured." The blade flicked aside as he stepped away.

Mouth rolled over and sat up holding his head. "Ow.. okay okay... got it."

BeachHead stepped over to look down at him with a disapproving glare. "Well.. have we learned our lesson about not grabbin' ninja? Didn't I tell ya that ninja are sharp and pointy and shouldn't be grabbed at?"

"Yes Sergeant major.. I was just making a joke." Mouth got to his feet, still rubbing at his head while looking embarrassed.

"Yeah well, we all found it real danged funny.. I particularly liked the part where ya landed on yer head.. ya wanna do that part again? I almost cracked a smile." Beach turned to the rest of the group. "This is why ya'll wear protective equipment.. 'cause we're too smart to get maimed on a trainin' mission. So don't be as stupid as to not use yer safety gear.. or I'll hafta stick ya in the ninja group where the not-so-bright fellers end unnghh...." His neck bent at a poor angle as a hard set of fingers dug into his jaw and he shifted his eyes to the side to SnakeEyes visored face. "Nnng guh..." The grip eased and he found his tongue able to work again. "Testy today aren't ya?" He was suddenly released and coughed slightly. "Don't tease the ninja.. gawd yer in a poor mood."

By the time he turned, SnakeEyes was gone, as he'd expected. "Danged spooks." He itched at his neck slightly, feeling the bruising from the day beginning to form already. "Alright.. so form up.. now that we know we ain't broke our ninja, we need to get ready to head back in. Yer doin' a lot better so keep it up. There's two ninjas in there, so don't get so focused on one opponent that ya forget the second man." He hefted the rifle. "So.. let's do this AGAIN!"

* * * *

End Chapter:

I intended to finish this off, but obviously it's not quite done yet. I hope it's enjoyed and please, feel free tor eview or message me as always. Thank you for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

This should be the final chapter in this. Sorry for the long wait! I hope it's worth the wait. Thank you to Karama9 for the assistance.

* * * *

"Get yer butts in gear."

Beach formed his teams up again, readying them to head back inside once again. The day had been long and grueling but the teams had improved each trip into the warehouse. Their short rest break over with, the greenshirts settled into the various groups and checked their equipment and protective gear. Even though they were beginning to tire, they still showed willingness to continue. Hefting his paintball rifle, their Sergeant major led his own team inside, crouching and moving quickly from spot to spot, followed and mimiced by the greenshirt troops. Miller took his team up the lefthand side, while Mouth moved into the righthand aisle.

A short spate of gunfire sounded to the right, and BeachHead twisted to check the stacks of crates. Williams took several quick paces forward of the rest of them and crouched, aiming upwards along the topmost boxes. When the first slender figure came bounding up and over, he squeezed off several rounds to hit Jinx in the leg and foot. The loud cursing as she landed and hopped sideways behind a massive sheet of wood made

BeachHead grin. Haberton tossed a paint grenade into the corner and they all heard the pop and then renewed cursing.

"Dead!" Her annoyance was clear in her voice. There was a loud snort from above, causing Williams to swivel around and aim at the dark figure up in the rafters watching over all of the action.

BeachHead spoke up quickly even as he saw the private's finger curling around the trigger. "Stand down! Don't shoot.."

The pop of the single shot sounded really loud and extremely dangerous. SnakeEyes shifted ever so slightly and the paintball hit just two inches from the commando's left ear. One finger came up to point at Williams who had blanched white and lowered his weapon just seconds too late to prevent the errant shot from being fired.

"Sorry Sergeant SnakeEyes!" The finger wagged at him in a 'no-no' motion and he nodded in reply. "Sorry.. my bad. Won't happen again."

Beach's annoyed grunt made the greenshirt turn to look at him. "Yer gonna get killed yet Williams. I ain't gettin' between ya and a angry ninja no how." The Ranger reached up to tug the shoulder strap of his combat armor slightly. The strapping system was new and he didn't get it just right. "Get back on track.. we still got one ninja to go.."

Miller's team let out a flurry of shots, two paintball grenades went off and then a short cheer. "Got him, Sergeant major!" BeachHead lifted his rifle and walked around the stacked crates to find the other team. "Both ninja are down and dead, Sergeant major!" Miller beamed happily and BeachHead looked at a disgruntled Kamakura who had caught two paintballs to his torso.

Beach looked him over. "Good work. EVERYONE OUT!" With everyone assembled up outside, he nodded at Williams who looked excessively pleased with himself. "Good shot on Jinx.. bad shot on SnakeEyes.. don't be taking out friendly forces because ya shot too quickly to identify the target." Williams' face fell. BeachHead's finger swung to point at Haberton. "Good job with the grenades.. ya managed to kill ninja instead of us." Motioning to Miller's team, he nodded. "Good job on taking out Kamakura. This time in, I'm observing.. ya'll decide what's workin' fer ya'll and order yourselves up." He strode to the doorway to yell loudly. "COMIN' IN! I'm NON-COM this trip.. no stabby bits on me.. GOT IT JINX?" A faintly heard amused affirmative came from inside.

Once he was inside and up on the upper walkway, he yelled at the group and waited to watch them coming in carefully. SnakeEyes joined him silently, giving him a start when he suddenly leaned on the railing without warning. "Geez.. warn a guy why don't ya?" He nodded at the first five-man team moving across the floors. "They're improved way past what I thought we'd achieve."

*Very much.* SnakeEyes motioned at the front team. *Miller is a good leader, you should promote him. Teryis is not bad. She makes a good second-in-command, steps up when pressed.*

"Yeah. Miller is the best team leader outa the greens. I keep recommendin' that he gets put up fer some sergeant's stripes.. but Flint keeps on turnin' him down. If'n he don't come up with some good danged reasons fer it, I'm gonna go to Duke." SnakeEyes nodded. "Jinx is doing really danged good. Is bein' small better fer bein' a ninja? Smaller targets and easier to cram yerself into little nooks and crannies?" His sly glance at the ninja master made him snort.

*I"m not small at all.*

"Maybe yer worse at cramming yerself into nooks and crannies."

SnakeEyes turned a glare onto the Ranger who held up his hands. *How many times would you like to bounce when I toss you over the railing here?*

"Ease up! Dang.. what's got ya in such a foul mood?" Beach stepped slightly away, while realizing that the slight distance wouldn't mean he was any safer from ninja retaliation. "Ya get irked over every little thing."

*Tired.* The short motion was the only reply, then Snakes crossed his arms and nodded down at the groups.

Beach turned his full attention to the ambush and quick flurry of activity. This time the two apprentices worked together in a joint attack to take out over half of the greenshirts before a paint grenade took out Jinx, leaving Kamakura to escape unscathed. "They're really starting to go full tilt against my troops now."

SnakeEyes tilted his head downward, his neck stiffening. *That's the point of the exercise.. not to take it easy on them.*

Beach twisted to glare. "I know that.. I ain't askin' fer them to go easy on no one. Danged ninjas are just too irritable to work with.. ya got a bad case of PMS or.. " He grabbed at the railing desperately as SnakeEyes grabbed him by the straps on his ribs and lifted. "NO NO!! Don't throw me over the edge!!" Kicking one ankle to hook the lower part of the railing, he bent his leg to drag himself back to the safe side of the metal piping and clutched it tightly. "LEGGO!" Pulling himself to the safe sturdy protective barrier, he wrapped himself into it and hung on while SnakeEyes tugged at him fruitlessly. "STOP IT! I'm sorry!! I'm SORRY!! Jeeebus!!! LEGGO ME!"

When the ninja let him go, Beach peered up at him, still clutching to the metal railing. "Are ya still gonna toss me over?" SnakeEyes glared at him and suddenly kicked him solidly in his chest plate irritably. "Ow."

The sharp motions of the commando's ASL signs showed how annoyed he was. *One more time, I'll bounce your hard skull off the floor.* Then the ninja was gone, climbing along the roof supports like a nimble squirrel. Beach waited warily until he was well gone before turning loose of the railing. Lowering himself to the walkway, he rolled up to his feet and tugged his balaclava a little to straighten it.

As he shrugged himself inside his armor and resettled it into place, the closest team looked up at him. Mouth grinned and Beach sighed lightly to himself, knowing he was going to need to go all the way down the steps in just a moment. The young man didn't disappoint him.

"Sergeant major? If you're done curling up in the fetal position in terror at Sergeant SnakeEyes... should we continue on or head back out to start over?"

"HOW ABOUT YA DROP AND GIMME FIFTY!?" BeachHead's bellow carried across the warehouse and no less than six other greenshirts dropped automatically to begin putting out push-ups.. assuming their Sergeant major was yelling at them and unwilling to take the chance he was addressing some other hapless recruit. While they counted out the push-ups, Beach took the stairs down and stood over Mouth. He ignored the other half dozen greenshirts doing push-ups. They'd figure out he wasn't paying attention if they were bright. "Ya wanna mouth off AGAIN?!"

"NO SERGEANT MAJOR!" Finishing his rep of fifty, Mouth bounced to his feet to stand at attention.

"Are ya sure? Cause Ah'm tellin' ya, I gotta whole ROLL of duct tape out in that danged truck with yer name ALL OVER IT!" Beach watched the head shake and the look of worry. "Jus' gimme ONE excuse!"

"No Sergeant major!" Mouth stood still while the Ranger bellowed in his face for a few more minutes finally sending him out to wait with the rest of the dead greenshirts. He stood for a few minutes before a bit of wood landed on his head. Looking up at the ceiling, he saw SnakeEyes signing at him.

*All dead.. call them back in when you're ready. Kamakura survived.* The smug motions made Beach grimace in distaste. Of course, some of the troops were distracted by watching the ninja master dangle their instructor over the edge of a twenty foot drop too.

He climbed the steps again and bellowed out loudly. "TIME!"

Everyone entered in combat ready stances, peering around suspiciously like they'd been trained. As they slowly spread out into four teams, Beach watched them move to space themselves in the ideal distance apart. Each step was considered yet the teams still moved fairly quickly. He was pleased with their stances and their success. The paintball rifles lifted at any shadow or movement.

Miller's team took the lead and within a few minutes, Kamakura slipped out of hiding to fling several throwing stars in the group, 'wounding' several and 'killing' no less than three. Williams had gone down with a 'wound' in his forehead. BeachHead nodded as taking out the best marksman made sense. It shouldn't cripple a team to lose any one member.

SnakeEyes appeared on the top of some of the crates, standing casually to oversee from a closer vantage. Although several rifles swung to cover him, they turned aside after correctly identifying him as a non-threat. Miller gave a quick signal to Mouth to gain height for a better overview. BeachHead moved down the walkway to be well out of the way in case there was any attacks or flying people. At the far end, he watched as Jinx appeared silently to slice two more greenshirts before Miller drew a bead on her and fired a flurry of shots to take her out. She stalked out the front door grumpily. SnakeEyes signed to her in quick movements, difficult for BeachHead to follow. It looked like he was telling her that the greenshirt troops were improving and that was the point of the exercise.

Mouth, up on the walkway near BeachHead, suddenly clicked his fingers once and Miller's entire group crouched while he relayed directions to where he'd spied a slight amount of movement from his vantage point. His quick signals were clear and BeachHead noted that Miller watched, then relayed the information to the rest so that the entire group wasn't occupied with staring at the lookout.

BeachHead stepped away from the edge of the walkway.. so that Miller's team couldn't see his signs to SnakeEyes. *Ninja they spot?*

SnakeEyes shoulders shook slightly as he laughed at Beachhead's clumsy ASL. *Yes.* He turned aside to continue watching. The shout from the doorway made him turn.

"Sensei.. call from the Pit.. top priority. General Hawk." Jinx stood in the doorway. She looked up at Beach and her hands motioned quickly in smooth ASL signs. *Enemy ninja activity reports, SnakeEyes to Pit ASAP.* When Beach gave a motion to himself and the greenshirts, she continued. *Exercise continue.*

He gave a single nod and watched SnakeEyes leap up into the rafters to swing himself to the front of the building to slip out of a broken window. Turning his attention to the greenshirts, BeachHead missed Mouth's rakish grin. The young trooper wrapped himself around the railing and mimed screaming in terror for the greenshirts waiting at the doorway.

The spattering of laughter caught the Sergeant major's attention and he followed the smiling looks up to see Mouth just frantically unwinding himself to stand attentively. "MOUTH!" His voice snapped out and he headed down the walkway angrily. "By GAWD boy.. Ah WILL break ya yet!"

Mouth looked startled and tried to backpedal, right into the weak boards SnakeEyes had warned the Ranger about when he first climbed the steps. The first crack was loud and the greenshirt struggled to get back to solid footing too late. BeachHead broke into a sprint trying to get there in time, only to watch as Mouth fell through the rotten flooring and crashed onto the floor with a yelp. The yelp of pain was followed by a scream of agony and BeachHead began to curse as he skirted the hole in the decking and scrambled down the stairs.

"LIFELINE!! MAN DOWN!" The Ranger got the Mouth's side to find him curled around his lower leg. "Awww crap.. why'd ya go and bust yer danged leg?" Pushing his hands away from the broken limb, Beach found a compound fracture complete with exposed bone. "Dang.." A quick tug and he clamped his hand over the ragged wound to put pressure onto it and stop most of the bleeding. "Dang it Mouth.. if yer leg was gonna go and get broke, ya could have at least let me be the one breakin' it."

Mouth grimaced and tried not to whimper too loudly. "Sorry Sergeant major.. I'd rather you broke it too.. I think I made a mess of it."

Lifeline set his medical kit aside and knelt down. "Oh, I'll bet you did.. I can't believe it's you and not Williams. Move your hands, Beach." He began to examine the ragged wound. "Nasty.. how did you do this?"

Mouth quivered under his touch. "I slipped on a banana peel."

The medic snorted and sliced the pants leg away. "Why I gotta treat all the smartasses?"

Miller smiled despite his worry over his teammate. "Because you have to be the GI Joe medic.. we're all smartasses." He straightened up and gave a curt motion to the rest of the greenshirts who were surrounding their downed teammate. "Come on.. give him some space to work. Teryis, get a stretcher in here. Haberton, call for a medical extrac. Lifeline, he'll need to be choppered out, right?"

Lifeline hummed as he wrapped the leg carefully. "Yes, it would be best."

Mouth protested. "Oh no no.. don't bother.. I don't need a helicopter ride. Shoot.. ask BeachHead.. I'll just hop back to base on my good leg! Just like a Ranger!"

Grunting dismissively, Beach turned to look down at him. "Shut it, Mouth. Do what Lifeline says or I'll break yer other leg."

"Yes Sergeant major." The greenshirt's meek agreement made Lifeline smile.

Placing the splint and beginning to strap it in place, Lifeline sighed lightly. "I see how it goes, BeachHead.. do as you say.. not as you do? I don't recall you ever cooperating with me or Doc voluntarily."

"Oh shut it, danged useless medic.." Beach turned to snap at the greenshirts to move outside when Folkson suddenly let out a strangled cry and clutched at his chest at the shurikin embedded there. The Ranger turned to see where the errant weapon had come from, already opening his mouth to yell. "STAND DOWN!!" There was a second thunk-thunk and he looked down at two more stars jammed through his own chest armor. "OW!! DANG IT!"

Two more greenshirts suddenly went down with spiked legs and Beach twisted to run for cover, grabbing one of his wounded greenshirts by a piece of his harness and dragging him behind. "ENEMY NINJA!! GET DOWN!! HOSTILES!! TAKE COVER!!" Everyone scattered and he hefted his rifle before cursing and tossing it aside in disgust. Painting hostile ninja wouldn't do much good. Pulling the ever-present .45 holstered on his thigh, he took aim at a blur of motion and fired twice. "Get outa the line of fire Lifeline!"

The medic grabbed Mouth by one shoulder strap and one of the other downed men by their wrist and dragged them behind a crate. "Beach!! Do something!" As he scuttled out to grab Folkson, he suddenly let out a scream and grabbed at his shoulder and the sharp pointed throwing star embedded there, cutting his fingers. "OW!! Ahhh... I'm a MEDIC!! Don't throw sharp things at me!! MEDIC!!!" He looked up just as a masked figure leapt off a upper crate, the slender katana sweeping in an arc designed to take his head off in a single blow. "NO! Don't kill me, I'm a MEDIC!!" His upheld hand would get lopped off first.. a tiny detached bit of his mind wondered if he'd be able to see it just before his head was sliced off.

"DOWN!" BeachHead's shout was too late, but then SnakeEyes' sword intercepted the attack, turning the blade aside into the corner of a wooden crate, then twisting around to slice the enemy's throat neatly. SnakeEyes stepped aside as another ninja closed with him.

Lifeline turned his back on the fight to grab Folkson and heave him over his shoulders and run for the doorway. He heard BeachHead's handgun going off behind him. Jinx flew by, tangled with a strange black clothed ninja. The strange marking on the back of the jacket glittered, somehow clear to the medic's eyes in the massive chaos in the warehouse. The greenshirts were falling back towards the doorway in a fairly organized manner. Lifeline went through the door into the strangely bright seeming sunlight.. Lowering Folkson, he resisted the driving urge to head directly back in and instead began to work on the severely wounded man under his hands. "Set up triage here!" Another injured trooper was dropped beside him by Miller who turned and jumped into the truck to begin handing out rifles.

"Hold at the door!! HOLD AT THE DOOR! Don't run right in!" Miller jumped out of the truck and rushed to the doorway. "You four.. behind me.. Teryis! Take four more! Take the right.. " He swarmed in, followed by his disciplined troopers. "Watch overhead! Pick your shots!" He spotted Williams hefting his paintball rifle and taking aim at a fast moving figure. Opening his mouth to yell for Williams to go get a real weapon, he watched with disbelief as the private took an impossible shot and nailed one enemy ninja in the eye with a paintball, making him flop onto the floor clutching his face. Williams rose to his feet and bolted for the door, passing Miller who paused only a split second to stare after him open-mouthed. Then he shook himself and moved forward. "Watch for our ninja! Don't shoot our guys!"

Teryis spotted a stack of axle grease filled bottles and snagged a couple to pass back. "Keep those.. might be useful." She moved forward to a major intersection and motioned for them to spread the grease on the floor. "Don't step in it."

Miller moved up the row carefully, his team only taking the rare clear shots. Kamakura and two enemy ninjas came flying overhead and they managed to take down one enemy and thankfully miss Kamakura, although it was close when he stopped himself by planting both feet against the side of a crate and ran sideways to run the following ninja through the chest when he couldn't stop in time.

BeachHead's .45 sounded off twice more and Miller tried to triangulate a direction from the noise. He waved everyone sideways. "Join up with Teryis!" They moved off quickly in low crouches, trying to keep their muzzles aimed upwards. "Friendly incoming! Yo Joe!" Teryis gave him warning to go around the large slick on the floor. "Watch the floor.. where's Sergeant major?"

Teryis shook her head. "He's forward of us." She motioned towards a stack when they heard the .45 go off again and a new spate of cursing. "Sounds like he's still alive.."

"And mad.." Miller aimed as SnakeEyes chased three terrified ninja right past them. Two hit the greased floor and slid into the crates hard, allowing the greenshirts to shoot them down rather easily. Their commando didn't pause but continued after the last one. BeachHead's shouts alerted them to his approach.

"Friendly incoming!!" He came barreling around the corner at top speed, hit their grease slick and smacked down to slide past the whole group, twisting onto his belly to fire at the half dozen ninja who'd unwisely chased after him into the ambush. The metal points of the shurikin embedded in his chest plates scraped loudly and let out a fingernails-on-chalkboard screech as he slid past on the concrete. Miller's group opened fire on the enemy, dropping most of them under a hail of gunshots. Beach scrambled back to his feet, slipping twice and cursing even louder as he got upright. Dropping an empty clip out of his .45, he slapped his last one in and crouched next to Miller. "Anyone bring in a extra rifle?"

"No Sergeant major.. sorry." Miller aimed and squeezed off a shot which went wide as he jerked it aside when Jinx bounded into the kill zone to stick a knife into the enemy ninja's left ear, dropping him like a sack of flour. "Dang! I almost hit her."

"Don't shoot our danged ninjas.. " Beach twisted as a loud yelp sounded to one side. "Anyone drag Mouth outa here?" Getting negatives from around him, he cursed softly. "I got 'em.. I gotta go get myself a danged rifle." Beach rose up and moved through the crates, ducking and weaving, and cursing as he scuttled across an open aisle and felt another thunk of a weapon hitting his armor. Every time he moved he felt sharp things slicing into him from the weapons that had made it partway through the protective plates. "ERRRRRGGHHH!!! Dang it! I hate ninjas!"

Kamakura tackled a body from just over him and thumped onto the floor on top of it, the loud snap of a spine breaking making even Beach cringe slightly. The young apprentice raised up and glanced at him. "We like you too BeachHead!" He sprang up to disappear into the crates.

Beach growled softly and continued, reaching to yank at the embedded throwing stars fruitlessly. "Danged snarky ninjas... MOUTH!! Where the heck are ya?"

"Sergeant major!!" The call came from his left and he moved quicker, ignoring the cuts he felt under the armor and the warm blood oozing through his sweater. Coming around the corner of a tightly placed stack, he found Mouth had dragged himself to cover as best he could. "I thought you guys forgot me!"

"Naw.. we jus' ignored ya fer a while.. come on.. " Beach bent to lift the younger man then suddenly cursed. "Dang.. I can't sling ya over my shoulder.. get ya all stabbed up on my new collection of ninja weapons.."

Mouth grinned at him, giving him a quick look-over. "I estimate about a dozen stars and daggers stuck in you Sergeant major.. any more stars and you'll be making constellations!"

"Shut it, danged greenshirt uppity privates..at least the danged ninja ain't figured out to go aimin' fer my head yet." Beach reached down and took Mouth by the back of his armor and simply dragged him behind him. "Yer nothin' but trouble and I swear to GAWD I'm gonna transfer ya one of these danged days.."

"Yes Sergeant major.. as long as you drag me away from all these pointy ninjas!" Mouth reached up to fumble BeachHead's pistol out of his holster and fired at an attacking ninja just as he closed within a few feet of them. "Could you drag faster?"

"Could ya shut it and stop thinkin' heavy thoughts??" Beach gritted his teeth and kept moving. Once he got the young man out the door, Lifeline took charge of him and the Ranger snagged an extra rifle and a handful of clips to stuff into his pockets. Lifeline grabbed his arm and jerked at him, trying to get him to stop.

"Beach.. you're dripping blood.." The medic was shoved aside as Beach headed back into the warehouse.

"Back it off! I gotta get back in there." Ducking back in through the door, BeachHead noticed that the noise was much reduced. He hurried through the aisles and was confronted by SnakeEyes unexpectedly.

The commando held up one hand at him. *Attack is over. Enemies are almost all dead.. a few fled. Need medical for several of your greenshirts.* He climbed up the side of a crate and disappeared.

Beach trotted back to the door to beckon in Lifeline. Yelling at some of the wounded, he got word that several Joes in transports were already on the way to help. "Report the attack's been repulsed.. we got wounded. Medical evac. Fast as they can send 'em." He headed in and started counting heads and mentally figuring up how many wounded he had. So far no one had died.

By the time that Duke arrived with reinforcements, the remaining uninjured or slightly injured greenshirts had done a thorough sweep of the warehouse. Lifeline had stabilized all of his patients. The three ninja had positioned themselves to be able to keep an eye on all approaches. Duke strode into the yard occupied by wounded troops, watching Doc and his interns begin to take over some of the injured as Lifeline directed the worst of his patients to be taken out by helicopter immediately.

"Where's BeachHead?" He was pointed to one side where Doc had more or less forced the Ranger to sit down so he could start unbuckling the body armor to remove it. "Blast it Beach! They turned your armor into an iron maiden with all those spikes that made it through. Were you trying to break a world record on number of ninja weapons stuck into a living body at once?"

Seated and wincing every time the armor was jostled, Beach snarled at him. "Naw.. it just sorta happened. They didn't all hit my danged armor either." His chest and backplates bristled with various weapons embedded in them. "Looks like I'll be addin' to the Pit's collection of ninja type armament once I get them all pried out." Doc scowled as the chest plate finally came loose, exposing the blood soaked sweater underneath. "Awww dang it.. this's mah favorite sweater!"

Doc rolled his eyes. "Stop worrying over the clothing.. you're the part that bleeds."

"Sweaters don't heal themselves, Doc. OW OW!! Easy with that backplate!" Miller held up the piece of heavy armor to let the Sergeant major look at the embedded weapons. "Well, that's one set of ruint armor. I hated the new straps anyway. Nice danged selection. See Duke? This's why I like wearing this 'useless bulky body armor' in the danged field."

"Well yeah Beach.. but if you'd stop irritating ninjas so much, they wouldn't throw so many weapons at you." Duke shook his head and smiled a little bit.

Beach snorted and looked around carefully before he replied. "Awww heck.. I can't help it.. I just like to shoot at ninjas when I see 'em. Just comes all natural." Lifeline came up to report to Duke and Beach turned to peer at him. "Hey medic.. got any of that candy left? Or didja give it all to the danged ninjas?"

Lifeline sighed and dug into a couple pockets before he came up with a battered butterscotch candy to hand over. "I swear I'm going to start making all of you say 'trick or treat' before you ask me for candy."

Duke nodded at the torn sleeve on the medic's uniform. "How badly are you hurt, Lifeline?"

"Not too bad.. I'll need a few stitches.. can you BELIEVE they threw a star into my shoulder?? I'm a medic! They shouldn't be attacking a medic!" Shaking his head, Lifeline handed over a scribbled list of the wounded. "Kamakura has several nasty cuts from knives or swords as well.. but he hasn't come to get treated yet, so when you see him, send him in." He turned to trot away. "I have to take Folkson to the Pit and start prepping him for surgery. Doc.. he's gonna need you right away. Everyone else is mostly stable."

Doc nodded and motioned to BeachHead. "I want to see you in the infirmary as soon as you're back at the Pit.. not tomorrow, not tonight.. as soon as you're back. Got it?" He turned a serious gaze on Duke. "Don't let him stick around here too long.. he's covered in small wounds."

Duke nodded and watched the two medical personnel trotting off to board the first of the transport helicopters. "We're blasted lucky that no one is dead. Hawk got the intelligence report of ninja activity in the area.. but no one thought they would be right here attacking the exercise at all."

BeachHead nodded. "These danged greenshirts did a good job.. they took down a lot of ninjas, they didn't panic and they kept collected and in order. Did danged good."

Duke looked around. "They must have.. otherwise you'd have a pile of dead." Looking down at the bloody Ranger, he frowned. "You know.. I don't think I've ever seen someone come out of battle with so many little cuts. You look like a flock of fairies with switchblades attacked you."

"Very danged funny, Duke. Ah'm gonna assign Mouth ta be yer danged aide. How'd ya like that?"

"You really shouldn't threaten me that way.. I am your superior officer."

"Ain't a threat if'n Ah intend to go and do it.. is it, now?" BeachHead's wicked grin made Duke roll his eyes. The Ranger got to his feet. "Ah gotta go hunt down the ninjas, get Kamakura ordered to see Doc and make sure these greenshirts don't get too full of themselves... start moppin' up here."

Duke shook his head firmly. "How about you head back to the Pit with the rest of the wounded.. get yourself taped up properly so Doc doesn't scream at me later.. and I'll take over this operation."

"Ah gotta choice?" Beach did look slightly hopeful.

"Yes, you have a choice." Before he could respond, Duke smirked. "You can ride back in a chopper now.. or I'll let Flint order you into a vehicle and then let him 'escort' you all the way while telling you how you should have just gone in the first place." He gave Beach a few seconds to scowl. "Soo.. the chopper is leaving in two minutes... shall I tell them to save you a seat?"

"How 'bout you tell 'em to bite me? That work fer you Duke?" As his commanding officer opened his mouth to chastise him, Beach turned to head for the choppers. "Ah'm goin'... Ah'm goin! Danged buncha pogues, bullying folks into goin' back to the danged Pit when there's work to get done.."

Duke watched him limping his way to the waiting helicopters, pointing and bellowing orders even as he went to put himself in with the rest of the wounded to be evacuated. "Good lord he's stubborn." A soft click made him turn, only to jump when he found SnakeEyes standing next to him. "BLAST!! That's NEVER going to not be creepy! You know that, right!?"

*I'm a ninja.. we do these things.*

"Well.. blasted stop doing those things to me! And where's Kamakura?" SnakeEyes gave him an elaborate shrug that didn't fool Duke in the least. "I want him to report to Doc in the next three hours.. got that? And yes, that's an order."

Annoyed, the commando's signs were swift and abrupt. *Kamakura is fine, he does not need a doctor.*

"Didn't I just say 'that's an order'? It's not a request or suggestion. Three hours, tops. And if Doc says for him to stay in the infirmary, he'd blasted well better stay there. Bad enough to be chasing you down, I'm not going to allow both of your apprentices to start doing it too." Duke stood with his hands on his hips, overlooking all of the hubbub.

After a moment SnakeEyes signed hesitantly. *Maybe one apprentice?*

"NO!! BLAST IT!! SnakeEyes!! Why do you guys have to be such a trial!?"

*We're NINJA.* There was a great deal of amusement in the posture of the masked commando. *We do these things.*

* * * *

End

Well, it's been a ride.. and I apologize for the long wait between chapter 2 and 3. I hope you enjoyed and please feel free to review or message.. as always, Thank You for reading!


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